


Taking Fate in Hand

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Return of the Padawan [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin surprises Palpy, F/M, Force Visions, Politics, and it's great to see
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 22:36:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7732408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anakin goes to see Palpatine finally, but his head is in a different place. Later, another Vision leads Ahsoka to a discovery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking Fate in Hand

They were just finishing up the meal they'd managed to put together when Skyguy's wrist comm buzzed insistently. Ahsoka ducked under the counter, away from him and out of sight, just in case it was someone from the Council. Technically they didn't have any right to tell her off, but they could make Anakin's life miserable about her.

Instead of Master Windu or Master Kenobi, though, the voice she heard was the Chancellor's. "Anakin, I need to see you. I don't know what happened that you missed opening night, but whatever it was, please, come talk to me..." 

Anakin's face set in heavy lines of concern. "Of course, sir," he answered, knowing he couldn't avoid the man further. He didn't want to go, not with all of his emotions over Dooku so riled up so recently, but, he couldn't not go either. "Where should I meet you?"

"I've just left the office for the night," that smooth, steadily warm voice replied, "and am heading home. Join me there, if you would." 

"I will be there shortly, Chancellor." He let his gaze fall on where Ahsoka had ducked down, and leaned hard into the strength she was. He could do this, could deal with the fact Palpatine wanted him on the Council for his reasons while the Council wanted him to spy on the Chancellor. Torn loyalties, when both sides had abused his trust… but Ahsoka was here for him, unwavering. As she had said, her leaving had never been about him, but about her own needs.

"Good, my dear friend," the Chancellor replied, adding, "I look forward to it," before the comm clicked off. 

Ahsoka lifted her head again, once she was sure she didn't hear the comm anymore, and gave his wrist a long, unhappy look. She did _not_ like the thought of her Skyguy being tugged around by the man that had pushed him so hard, demanded he do what was to any Jedi _unthinkable_ and kill an unarmed (or at least unhanded, a sardonic bit of her mind said) prisoner. Especially not when Skyguy now felt as roiled and twisted as he had when she'd first asked him about why he was on Coruscant in the first place. 

No, she didn't like this _at all_. 

But then again, Jedi General Anakin Skywalker could hardly refuse an invitation from the Supreme Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and she certainly couldn't ask him to break even so mild a promise as 'I'll be there'. Skyguy kept his word, no matter what it cost him. 

"You'll be here, keeping Padmé safe," he said, more to console himself about losing more time with his wife in such uncertainty. "Hopefully it won't be long." He moved to where he could reach her hand with his natural one, to squeeze it before he had to go.

"Of course I will," she agreed, holding on to his hand firmly, looking up at him. "But I'm more worried about _you_ , right now. 

"Come home to us, okay? Soon as you can?" 

"I will. If something comes up… I'll contact you." Something made him feel that making sure she knew where he was might be important. He then leaned down, pressing his forehead to hers briefly, before turning to leave, wrapping himself in duty.

"Okay," she agreed, no matter how little she wanted to. //I'm right here,// she whispered across their bond. 

He silently agreed, and kept that bond open, so she could help him.

He needed it, and with Padmé's life on the line, he was willing to admit it.

++++

Anakin was centered in the Force, wrapped in his friend's steadying presence, as he arrived to see the Chancellor. Maybe a little distance in this friendship, as well as with the Jedi, might be advised. It might help him find the route he could not see out of the visions.

The red-robed guards stepped aside from the doors and slid them open, their cold gazes never leaving him, and he walked in. The apartment was larger than Padmé's, and it had a grandeur to it that far surpassed hers. Appropriate, because Padmé never stood on ceremony, and the Chancellor was the beloved face and heart of the Republic itself. 

And he was sitting in a broad chair, lifting his hand in greeting. He still looked... tired. But then, it had only been a few days. "Anakin, my dear friend, welcome. You look... better. I am glad.

"Come and sit down, won't you?" 

Anakin nodded, moving to the chair that was nearest, sitting half on the edge and leaning forward. "I'm fine, sir. Just needed time to rest." He kept Ahsoka hidden deep inside his mind, mostly out of worry that he would question her presence as a rogue Force user. Wait… it wasn't as if the Chancellor could ever know, right? "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Continue being your exemplary self, Anakin," the Chancellor replied. "Thank you for your report on the Council meeting -- it was fascinating reading, if... troubling. I simply don't understand why they removed you from the search for Grievous, and the idea that they seem to think you could not handle the invasion on Kashyyyk is ridiculous." 

Briefly, Anakin considered asking the Chancellor to 'encourage' the Council to let him return to the field. Ahsoka would keep Padmé safe, and he would be free of the warring demands on his loyalty. That struck him as cowardly, though, and he wanted to be near his wife.

"The ways of the Force are mysterious, so the keepers of how to handle it must be as well?" he offered instead. Let his wit be his shield, he told himself. He didn't want to be drawn further into this, not when he and Ahsoka had to concentrate on saving Padmé from his visions.

The Chancellor shook his head slightly even as the corners of his mouth quirked slightly. "Well... perhaps that is so, perhaps it is... but it adds to the reasons I am troubled, my friend. I... you know that I have felt I cannot rely on the Jedi Council, that that is among the reasons I placed you upon it.

"Have they tried to draw you into their plotting already, Anakin? Is that why you did not come to join me at the opera?" 

How to even answer that, Anakin wondered. He matched the Chancellor's gaze evenly. "No, actually. I find their discussions mundane and ineffective. I did not come because I had other issues I had to attend to. I should have sent notice to you."

He didn't want to think about arguing with Padmé. He didn't want to think about running until he couldn't breathe, or how fully to exhaustion he had pushed himself. He couldn't think about the dreams that came after… but there had been Ahsoka. Ahsoka made the suffering easier.

"It's all right," the Chancellor shook his head slightly, his pale eyes seeming to look into him as deeply as Obi-Wan's ever had, concern written on his face. "I am... relieved to hear that they have not." 

He sighed heavily, looking away, fingers coming up to rake through his thinning white hair. "I suppose I see shadows everywhere. But... you have always found politics 'mundane and ineffective', Anakin, no matter how much I tried to teach you their intricacies when you first came to Coruscant with us. 

"Do you know, they are already trying to find a way to free themselves from not just my oversight, but the Senate's itself? What does that suggest to you?" 

Anakin considered that question, taking his time to answer it, because the earlier words had almost felt like criticism, something he'd never been the best at taking. So he thought about it, and then shook his head.

"It's not as if the Senate allows oversight into its workings, sir. Perhaps the Jedi Order is awakening to the fact they made an error in becoming an extension of the political status quo. Honestly, I think they did, centuries ago. They have never had the manpower to do what the Republic tasks them with. 

"Perhaps they would be better served as an agency that addresses problems the Senate can't… or won't." Anakin then shrugged his shoulders. "But that's likely my wishful thinking. From what I see, they merely want to find Grievous and bring an end to the war."

Palpatine's gaze snapped back to him, his pale eyes widening slightly with what looked like genuine shock. "I -- oh, Anakin." His voice was so affectionate, the easy sincerity and warmth that always seemed to come so easily from him. 

"I so envy you your ability and willingness to see only the best in people, my friend. It is a precious gift... but at the same time, I worry for you. You are so brilliant, so gifted -- no, it is only the truth, obvious to anyone with even half an eye to see -- " 

"I know." Anakin interrupted the man, feeling like this was an attempt to double-talk him around to the same point he had been at, that of working against either the Order, or against his friend. "More people need to look for the best in others, encourage it. Maybe then, we'd get somewhere about breaking down those differences that make your Senate so fractious."

A part of himself was wincing and shocked at being quite that way, but… he wanted to go home, not be pushed to something he didn't want to do.

He had startled the Chancellor badly, he saw, the man's expressive face shifting with surprise and what looked for a moment like anger before it disappeared again. "They are that," were the next words the Chancellor spoke. "They are... definitely that. And I would like to believe that looking for the best would help. 

"But now I'm curious. Would you truly care to see the Jedi Council -- a group who I know have given you such difficulty, made things painful for you, who should be one of their brightest lights -- who are not elected, not chosen by the people they purport to serve but only by their own... well. A less generous man might say 'whim'... be completely separated from the Senate? 

"Do you think the Council, as it is made up now, would truly even want to be? That they would want -- or even be capable of considering -- to give up the power they now have? No one willingly cedes power, Anakin. I have seen that so many times..." 

Anakin considered those words and thought about the men and women he worked with through the Order. He considered their mistakes, especially since Ahsoka's trial… and then those last words hit, and he wondered just what krayts were lurking for him to answer in honesty or evasion, either one.

"All interesting points, Chancellor, but ones that are not meant to be answered in the heat of the moment." Anakin inclined his head to the elder man. "Well worth time spent meditating on, though. After all, if I wish to be an example to the very people you speak of, as I should be, I should best use all tools at my disposal."

Palpatine blinked at him for a moment, obviously nonplussed, and for the first time, Anakin thought that for a moment, he could feel something more than quiet serenity from him. Almost an... anger? No, he had to be mistaken, it was only that he was startled. "Do," the Chancellor encouraged him quietly. "And I hope you have the time to consider it carefully." 

Anakin's neck prickled at that wording. He kept a pleasant enough smile on his face, inclining his head as he stood. "I should let you rest. Recent events have seemed quite taxing, on all of us. I'm certain, as heavy as your burden is, it seems even more so."

Why did he feel so uneasy about the conversation tonight? It was in the same vein as may other words they had shared, if a bit more pointed at the Council.

"You're not wrong, Anakin," he agreed, sighing heavily, "you're truly not. And I hope you rest well, my friend." 

Anakin bowed a little and turned to leave. Hopefully Padmé would be home before he got there, and he could work out his unease with both women close, the two people who were loyal to him without making demands on him.

+++++

Anakin had settled in with Padmé, pushing aside his concerns for the moment, and spent a couple of hours with her and Ahsoka, talking and watching something ludicrous that Snips had found on the Holo-Net. Going to bed without a sudden summons from the Council had felt good, if a little worrying.

And now he could hear Padmé screaming, telling someone (was it him? why would it be him?) no, to not do this. The sense of fire and acrid fumes filled his lungs, as the yelling choked off, and the imagery shifted, blurred all around the edges, but his Angel in pain, crying out.

Ahsoka had been drowsing on the couch, curled up half-asleep, when she felt something dark and twisted touch the bond between them. She didn't know what it was, just knew it was wrong... and then she could taste heat and ash, feel -- 

\-- Vision. 

Skyguy was having another vision. She rolled up to her feet and went for the door to the bedroom. She'd apologize to Padmé later, but she had to get to him, bring him out of it, and tell him what she'd felt before it started. He was on the side closest to the door (of course) at least, starting to toss and turn. If she touched him right now, she'd go flying across the room -- that she knew perfectly well -- so she perched on the end of the bed and focused on the bond. //Skyguy. Skyguy, wake up, come on...//

Something, almost a barrier, was causing the bond to be less crisp, but her Skyguy had given himself over to her loyalty, reinforcing that bond to a level it hadn't been since the aftermath of Mortis, maybe even stronger. Her voice could cut the fog, could reach him, and it did.

The voice of his Angel in pain faded back, the almost-smell of gasses searing his lungs fading with it, as he heard/felt Snips right there with him. His eyes snapped open as he chose consciousness, already sitting up to reach for the young woman.

His hands stretched out for her and she pounced, nudging him back down against the mattress as she burrowed closer, sheets and blankets barely separating them, her hands sliding under his shoulders. "I'm here... I'm here, Skyguy; so's Padmé; she's just fine..." 

He turned his head, seeing his wife lying on her side, back to him in her latest attempt to be comfortable. She was sleeping at least; they hadn't awakened her. He shuddered a little to be awake, holding Ahsoka close.

//Misery. So much misery. She's in danger still.//

Padmé had slept through Ahsoka saying her name, slept through Skyguy tossing? Padmé, with her reflexes and her awareness? 

There was something wrong with that, and she frowned even as she pushed closer to her Skyguy, stretching her senses out to check if Padmé was okay... and that staticky thing was lying on her mind, too. //Shh... shh. We'll keep her safe, we will... but Skyguy, do you feel this? Reach for her.// 

//What?// Anakin did as Ahsoka wished him to, pushing to touch his wife's presence in the Force, always a warm comfort to him, and made more so with the baby enhancing it.

Why did she feel as if he were reaching for her on Naboo instead of in their bed? He pushed his awareness further… and the interference seemed to retreat. Padmé began to stir, reacting to the extra body, and alarm shot all through Anakin.

"Padmé?" he called softly. //Who would be influencing her, or whatever that is?!//

//I don't know,// Ahsoka answered, shaking her head a little as she stayed tucked against him, looking towards Padmé worriedly, //but it feels the same as whatever was touching _you_ before the vision started...// 

"...Ani?" Padmé's voice was quiet and groggy, but at least it was _there_ , and Ahsoka relaxed a little. 

//What?!// Anakin let that surprise, tinted in anger, rest in the bond, before he freed an arm to get it under Padmé, wanting her to be closer. "Sorry, Angel… needed to hear your voice," he told her, half-truth. 

How could anyone be getting past his defenses? Who would? Barriss Offee was securely imprisoned. Asajj Ventress wasn't that strong, nor Darth Maul if that sleemo had come anywhere near Coruscant. Dooku… was dead.

Surely the Sith wasn't able to affect him from the Force?

Padmé rolled, grumbled as a flicker of pressure-pain Ahsoka could feel ran through her, and tucked her head against his chest. "Mmm... I'm okay, Ani," she told him, before her eyes opened and Ahsoka saw her startled blink. "Ahsoka? What are -- " 

"Sorry, Senator," she replied to the half-there question, "couldn't get him to wake up at first," even as she answered him through the bond. //I felt something dark touching you. Sorry, didn't mean to wake her...//

And now Padmé was waking up even more, pushing up on an arm to look down at Skyguy, crease coming up between her brows. 

"I had another dream." At a sharp sound in Ahsoka's throat, Anakin winced and sighed. "A Vision. It's you, again, in pain and dying," he told Padmé. "But you didn't wake, to her coming in or joining us or saying your name." He tried to get her to come back to his shoulder, shifting, so that Ahsoka would lay along his other side, needing both close. 

"There's more," Padmé said, coaxing with her tone of voice, even as she did tuck in along her husband's body. 

Ahsoka shifted to tuck herself along his side, not protectively over him, and reached for Padmé's hand, tangling her fingers with the Senator's once she'd found it, letting Padmé take care of pushing Skyguy to talk to them. 

"Something in your head, your Force signature, and Ahsoka said she felt it in me," he admitted. "An outside presence, influencing us both. And I can't figure out who would be able to, Padmé. Ventress nor Maul would be able to and Dooku… Dooku is dead." He didn't mention the fallen Padawan out of respect for Ahsoka's feelings.

Padmé made a low, startled noise, shaking her head. "In _my_ signature? But why?" 

"Because Skyguy can't think straight when you're in danger," Ahsoka heard herself answer before she thought about it... and the truth of that answer rang like the biggest cymbal in the universe through her connection to the Force, hard enough to make her montrals ache for a moment with pressure that wasn't there. 

Anakin stroked the hand on her down her back, trying not to touch the central headtail. "Snips?" Those words were so strong, and the bond between them was surging with Force. "Who is capable of doing this, or, who can help us figure it out?"

That someone was using his beloved wife to manipulate him had a burning anger stoked inside his chest. This had to be ended. Yet, who could they trust? It wasn't as if he and Snips had been able to take the time to actually acquire the deep meditation techniques that would let them help each other walk through it on their own.

Anakin would try it, though, as long as Ahsoka was willing, figuring they could find their way together.

She shook her head slightly, her fingers squeezing Padmé's as she moved a little against that stroke along her back. "I'm not the Seer, Skyguy; visions are your job," she protested, but that faintly echoing note in his voice was a push for her to try. She closed her eyes, breathed in, and out, and tried to follow the touch of that dark wrongness, the static that had been between her and her Skyguy, her and the Senator, between _them_ (which was obscene)…

...but her seeking went nowhere. Outside of the apartment, all of the traces just... vanished. She tried again, centering back into herself and trying to follow it from them, and failed again. 

Padmé kept silent until it was clear Ahsoka wasn't having success, seeing the lekku go more still than usual and her slim shoulder drop a little. "Why not ask Obi-Wan to help you, Anakin?" she suggested softly, already bracing for the storm of his emotions.

Some days, she couldn't tell if there were unrequited feelings between them, or if it really was a case of a son seeking the father's approval that caused the flares of passionate anger in Ani where the older man was concerned.

This time, it was less anger and far more fear, because it would mean letting Obi-Wan in, and he might see what had really happened with Dooku.

Anger and fear spiked off of her Skyguy, pouring into her through their bond and the physical contact between them, and she wrapped support around him, steadiness, offering him all she had to give. Why was he so -- 

\-- oh. Of course. What he'd done with the Sith Lord. Skyguy would probably rather die than let his former Master know _that_. Yeah... she understood. Which didn't mean Padmé wasn't right. 

"I can't go to Obi-Wan, Padmé," he said. "I wouldn't be able to reach the right level of rapport with him," he said, completely true, but for different reasons than in the past. "And I don't trust any of the other Jedi that well either."

Padmé frowned at him for that. "Well, then just ask him to look at it with me," she said. "I do trust him fully."

"But then he'd know!" Anakin said, even as an ugly flare of jealousy intruded at her words. "He'd see the lines between you and me, Angel… I can't risk that!" Easier to focus on the secret than that he didn't want them working that closely together.

"...Skyguy," Ahsoka murmured, soft and startled, "do you _really_ think he doesn't already?" 

"How could he? I haven't been thrown out of the Order, or worse," Anakin said callously, scoffing at the idea of Master Kenobi, Keeper of the Code, not punishing him for this. Flickers of Obi-Wan as a stern, frightening figure were there in his mind.

"I'm not so sure about that, Ani," Padmé said. "He does love you, in his own way. I see it when you two are together."

Ahsoka frowned at those images, at the thought of Master Kenobi as frightening, as someone her Skyguy would speak of so callously, with such an edge to his voice. No, he hadn't spoken up much for _her_... but she knew there was nothing he wouldn't do for Skyguy. "...maybe he doesn't know details, but Skyguy, I _promise_ you he knows more than you think he does. 

"Just like I did. He'd never let on, or let anything happen to you that he could stop." 

Anakin looked at Snips, then shook his head. "No. I have to keep you safe too, 'Soka. I don't know how he would act if he knew you were here. On top of seeing the truth about us."

Padmé subsided then; that was the stubborn, heels dug in, refusal tone. Just as Anakin had never wanted to listen to her as she grew more uncomfortable with the Chancellor, it was easier to just not speak of it.

Was Obi-Wan on planet? If not, was he in a sector she could travel to?

"...okay, Skyguy. Okay," Ahsoka replied, subsiding against that voice -- that was the 'stars will die before I budge on this' tone -- and tucking herself back in against his chest. "Then we're just going to have to logic ourselves to the answer. 

"You're right that it's not Ventress or Maul. They couldn't get to you, and even if they could, I know how _they_ feel. Besides... Ventress just wanted away when _I_ saw her last. So. Not her. Not Maul. Grievous is just another tinny, couldn't use the Force if he tried. 

"Which means... whoever pulled Dooku into the Sith, right?" 

Padmé made a low noise, remembering another desert world, years ago, and she murmured a half-forgotten fragment of information. "...Sidious. I remember Obi-Wan saying Dooku claimed that hundreds of Senators were under the sway of a Sith Lord named Darth Sidious..." 

Anakin made a low noise in his throat. "Smoke and wind, because we can't find a trace of him," he said to that. "But for him to be manipulating me… and you… wouldn't he have to know us somehow?"

"Or she, or xir," Padmé pointed out. "But if that's the case, if they would actually have to have interacted with both of us… who could it be?"

Cold anger, the kind that promised destruction, flashed through Anakin. "Maybe Barriss wasn't alone within the Order as a traitor."

That... wasn't impossible, Ahsoka thought, and she laid her head on his shoulder a little more comfortably. "Maybe," she said, soft, as she squeezed Padmé's fingers for a moment. "Or maybe it's someone in the Senate? Someone that doesn't seem to do much, but is whispering in people's ears? Gentle little 'suggestions' to get what xie wants?" 

She felt a flicker of unease from her Skyguy, and brushed concern across the link between them. "What is it, Skyguy? I know I hit a nerve..." 

He turned his head enough to look at her, his blue eyes clouded with too many emotions to quantify. "I… I don't think the Chancellor was happy with my answers for him tonight. And it kept making me question, even though he's my friend."

Padmé very carefully did not say anything; they'd had too many fights on this ground.

"He kept prodding at the Order supposedly wanting to be out from under the Senate," Anakin began, but that wasn't all that had been said, so he amended it, "out from under _his_ oversight. I pointed out the Senate doesn't actually have oversight either, and debated possible motives.

"If a Jedi is actually a Sith, I'd see his concerns as valid, but they still make me … I don't know. He's got all the power he needs to see the war to an end, right? Why should it matter if a religious institute breaks away? The Jedi have never been highly populous, we're scattered to the Rim and then some. Most Jedi, given peace, would rather sit and look at their belly buttons than get involved in power."

The words just kept flowing, as he out-processed why the Chancellor's words had rubbed him wrong, despite his anger with the Council.

Ahsoka hummed softly, listening to her Skyguy -- this was the most critical she'd ever heard him be of the Chancellor. Even when he'd been telling her what the man had pushed him to _do_ he'd been defending him. This was different, very different, and she nodded. "I can't see that it would," she agreed. "I mean, if the war can just be _ended_ , they'd be happier to go back to sitting on their hands. 

"Does he... not agree?" 

Now came the part that was twisting inside him the worst. Mostly because it dovetailed to just what he and Padmé had argued over.

"He asked if the Council, as it is made up now, would actually give up their power. And then... " He dug into his memory to exactly quote the words, including the tired, slightly chiding tone. " _No one willingly cedes power, Anakin. I have seen that so many times…_ , and I swear by the Force it was like looking at both sides pulling me to betray my loyalties were in a mirror image in front of me.

"But… the Council is wrong, I admit that. I just… they all look so tired, like no one's slept the whole war, and what if all this last several months is that? Fatigue, and stupid mistakes?" Anakin asked. "I don't normally do the 'look at it from their shoes' thing, but I know Obi-Wan has aged ten years in the last three!" 

"You're one to talk about not sleeping," Ahsoka murmured, remembering growls of 'I'll sleep when we catch him' and Skyguy trying to chase her off to sleep when he looked like he'd had no rest in longer than she'd been awake, but she nodded. "He has," she agreed with that last bit. 

That quote from the Chancellor... that didn't sound good, not with the rest of what she knew.

Padmé had forced herself not to snort her derision at the 'no one willingly cedes power', had made herself be quiet through the whole of the discussion, but when he finished, once Ahsoka had said something, she found that she couldn't quite bite her tongue any more. "Well, I suppose he _would_ know something about not ceding power, he's certainly gathered enough to himself..." 

Anakin bit his lip to stop the immediate defense that sprang to mind, because really, he'd thought it himself on hearing the Chancellor say it. And… Padmé was the exception, anyway. Her people had all but begged her to remain as Queen, willing to rewrite their constitution, and she had refused. 

She'd even won the position of Senator without actively trying to be elected; the people had insisted, and Anakin had never seen her really indulge in any of the benefits of the job, while risking herself repeatedly to serve the Republic.

Like Plo Koon, like even Mace Windu, when they were actually in the field with their troops, she gave everything to the service of those who had faith in her.

Did the Chancellor really meet that level of dedication while holding so much power?

"Padmé," he whispered, slightly anguished, as he reeled her in even tighter along his side, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. It's just so hard, with the Council wanting one thing, and him wanting another. When you started in last time… it felt like an attack when I was still locked into the fact he's been my only friend on Coruscant the entire time I have lived here!"

"Shh," she murmured, pressing a kiss to his temple, his cheek, "It's all right, Ani, it's all right. I didn't realize how much pressure you were under. 

"I would never attack you, but you know how often I've argued against his maneuvers. I'm _furious_ at some of the latest ones, and I just... I want to stop losing our boys, sweetheart..." 

"Some 'friend'," Ahsoka growled, only barely holding back her waking fury for his sake over that man's prodding. Pushing her Skyguy to kill like that? 

That was nothing a friend would do, no matter what was going on around them. She couldn't bring that up, though, not with Padmé right here -- she _knew_ he hadn't told her. Would never tell anyone else, probably. 

'Want to stop losing our boys'. The words echoed in Anakin's head, and he thought about it longer, trying to figure out why. How many had they lost, between active campaigns and …

"Krell. Krell actively lost so many of ours, and then… Tup, oh Force, Tup and Fives!" He needed up, couldn't stay in bed, not as little pieces came back to mind, with the destruction of the med droid, the loss of all evidence. But Fives had been so… driven!

He managed to get free of his wife, and Ahsoka was already moving, knowing that restlessness even as her chest clenched. Fives was one of _her_ boys.

With his feet under him, Anakin paced the floor of the bedroom, remembering every detail of the reports, of what Fives had said when he held Rex and himself prisoner in the ray shields. He tried to wrap his head around it, even as he recalled that single, lethal shot from Commander Fox. Fox, who had given orders to kill Ahsoka without any proof of guilt.

Fox, who led the Coruscant Guard, and did not answer to a Jedi, but straight to Palpatine.

"The _Vod'e_ are in danger, Snips," he said as everything clicked into place. "And because of it, so are the Jedi. I might not like many of them, but I do have a few that matter, that I don't want to see dead."

"What danger?" Ahsoka asked, her eyes narrowed almost to slits, her hand flexing on her shoto, "and what happened to Fives?" 

'What do you need me to do?' was what she wanted to ask, but she already knew. Stay with Padmé, keep her brother's heart and his unborn child safe. 

He came back over to the bed, sitting on it, to pull her into a hard hug. "Fives was killed. By Commander Fox, while he was trying to tell me that Tup had been right. There's a chip in their heads, and it makes them a danger to their Jedi. It's the only reason, Snips, to try and silence him without letting him present his evidence. Just like he tried to silence you, before we could find the truth about the bomb." He reached back for his wife's hand. "There's a habit of silencing those who might say interesting things… and all on the Chancellor's orders," he told them, guilt washing through him for Dooku's death and for saying such a thing against his friend.

"Anakin…" Padmé sat up and pressed against his back, her hard stomach a solid reminder of the stakes for them now.

Ahsoka actually growled this time, her lips skinning back from her teeth, even as she burrowed against his chest, grief cutting through her. "...I really don't like that particular brother," she said, her voice rough. 

Fives, too? They'd lost so many of the brothers, but to lose Fives at the hands of another brother, not to a tinny... it hurt. She couldn't let herself sink into that, though. Not with every Jedi she cared about, and all of the _Vod'e_ in danger. 

"Okay. Okay. I have to stay with Padmé, I know, but I think you need to go to the Temple and... make a Healer check one of the brothers. They won't buck you." 

"Which one, though? Wait, no, Obi-Wan is on planet. I am pretty sure Cody trusts me enough to come with me," Anakin said, wishing again for Rex. He liked Appo, had agreed to the promotion, but… Rex had been there since the beginning.

Padmé filed away the fact Obi-Wan was on planet, even as she wondered if it would be needed. Anakin's questioning of things was… frightening her, in view of all the fighting she had been leading in the Senate against the Chancellor's power.

"...thought you said it was just you two that jumped in, in fighters?" Ahsoka asked, before her brain kicked in. "But you've been here a bit, so the 212th followed him in. What about our boys, where's the 501st?" 

"Here, in barracks. We don't have a target yet for where Grievous fled," Anakin said. "But I don't have the same rapport with Captain Appo. And it has to be an officer, or we'll never get the others through it," Anakin reasoned.

"You go find Commander Cody then," Padmé said. "I'm awake for the day, so I think I will go get some paperwork caught up while the Senate is not in session." She'd have Bail join her; he didn't sleep much at night either, and she needed a sounding board.

Ahsoka frowned, tensing worse. "...where's Rex?" she asked, hating how small her voice had gone. She'd heard him mention Appo before, but she hadn't thought that much of it. But for him not to be --

\-- had her not being here cost them Rex, too? She had to know, to be able to face it, so she didn't let the worry eat at her ability to handle Skyguy.

Anakin frowned, not liking the way her lekku were so still or pale in the dim light of the bedroom. "No, Snips, he's alive," he quickly reassured her. Of course his absence affected her; his Captain had been the one who kept up with her whenever Anakin was busy. Which was most of the time. "He took an extended leave of absence. If I had to guess, he's on Saleucami." Anakin made a wry twist of his mouth; he didn't want to confirm anything concerning the supposed deserter there that he was not supposed to know about.

Padmé rose from the bed to leave them to talk, while filing away just how badly Ahsoka had handled not knowing about Rex. She would get dressed first in the 'fresher, so Anakin could take a shower after.

Ahsoka took a quick breath, relief pouring through her in an almost violent flood, and she clung to him for a moment, two, before she nodded. "Okay. Okay. Good, he's... he's okay. 

"So. I stay with Padmé and make sure she's safe, while you go to the Temple, yeah?"

"Yes. Don't leave her side, Ahsoka. I have a bad feeling about this," he told her with a low rumble. He squeezed her once more, needing to get up to deal with finding a clean under-tunic and leggings, knowing he needed a good shower, of Master Fisto would smell his fear no matter where he went in Temple.

"I promise, Skyguy," Ahsoka answered, having wriggled out of his lap before he could displace her. "I'll watch her back. While you're there, if you can, load a pad with obstetric healing stuff -- for humans? Not exactly something I worried about..." 

"Snips, I'm pretty certain the only healing I ever managed to teach you was how to put someone under so we could save them later," he said sheepishly. "But yeah, that's a bit far out there for anyone. I'll see what I can snag for you." He grinned at her a little, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Was he jumping at shadows? Was he suspecting his friend for no reason? Well, he'd know as soon as he got Cody to the healers.

She heard that moment of doubt and caught hold of his wrist, looking up at him. //It's not for no reason, Skyguy,// she told him. //Too much of this all leads straight back to him. _Especially_ what he did to you.//

//Stay here with me,// Anakin sent back down the bond, rather than let her reading his mind irk him. He felt like it was helping him think straight. Funny, as impulsive as they both were, they really did synergize well when it came to planning. //Having you so close in the bond… it's making it easier to hold back the Dark.//

//I'm here, Skyguy. I'm _right_ here,// she replied, holding on to him across the bond even as she let go of his wrist. //Right where I'm supposed to be.// 

He closed his eyes a long moment, then nodded and went to prepare for his day… even if it really wasn't morning yet.


End file.
